South Africa: Is It Too Late for Salvation? a Tale of Two Cities As Day Zero Looms

26 June 2022
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
analysis By Estelle Ellis

The DA's Helen Zille lived through Cape Town's battle to avert Day Zero in 2018. Other than heavy rain, she does not see a way for Nelson Mandela Bay to avoid water outages across 40% of the city within days.

Drought-stricken Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) metro got some rain on Thursday, 23 June, but the water-supply outlook for the area remained dire. At that stage, there were five days worth of water left in Churchill Dam, none in Impofu Dam and 18 in the Kouga Loerie scheme -- provided special permission for the city to continue over-extracting its quota could be extended.

Borehole projects started years ago are not yet operating, neither are projects to augment pump capacity in the reticulation system to get water across the whole city.

Given current consumption levels, including the 80 million litres a day being lost to leaks, if the remaining dam fails, the city will be unable to get enough water from east to west to provide for everyone.

Responding to suggestions that only a well-timed winter storm had saved Cape Town from Day Zero in 2018, DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille said: "Cape Town was never in such deep trouble. We...

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